Happy Cheesecake Day! To celebrate, I have a simple recipe for you and take you on a culinary journey to Greece. This No Bake Honey and Yogurt Cheesecake with Thyme is with tender oatmeal cookies, butter, and thyme. The creamy filling consists of Greek-style yogurt, full-fat cream cheese, icing sugar, lemon zest, and white chocolate and melts in your mouth. Top it with the delightful thyme honey just before serving.
The temperatures have risen, and I am in the mood for a cooling ice cream. The golden Yellow Bastani Sonati – Persian Saffron Ice Cream is one of the most popular ice creams in Iran. Whether young or old, men or women, everyone loves Bastani Sonati – Persian Saffron Ice Cream. Bastani means ice cream, and Sonati is traditional, so translated, it means traditional Persian ice cream. Nothing is better in the heat than having the aromatic saffron ice cream melt in your mouth. In Bastani are little frozen pieces of cream and pistachio slivers hidden. As a child, and even today, I still get excited when I discover a tasty bite of delicious frozen cream or a slivered pistachio in the ice cream. HOMEMADE BASTANI SONATI Throughout Tehran, we have a lot of ice cream stores that sell Bastani, but many Persians also prepare it at home, as there is nothing better than fresh homemade Bastani. Last summer, I made saffron ice cream without eggs; today I have a recipe with eggs. In my …
Have you ever been to Morocco? Then you probably know the local street food Sfenj, pronounced Sfinsch. It is a popular street food in the souks of Morocco and the many Sfenj bakeries. You have probably also seen Moroccans with a Sfenj handbag 😉 For they are tied together with a “ribbon” of palm fronds or a string and sold as a way to carry them. Sfenj is prepared fresh in the morning and served while still warm for breakfast. And it’s enjoyed with Moroccan mint tea or a strong coffee in the afternoon. The best way to eat them is plain, but some also like to roll them in sugar, and others soak them in honey or syrup. I’ve made the recipe for Sfenj Moroccan donuts a few times, and the one I liked best was this version from Atlas Kitchen, which I’m sharing with you today. Be sure to give it a try! Watch Video on Instagram
A birthday with the beloved retro classic Cold Dog was a must-have in my childhood. So who else has nostalgic feelings and childhood memories with this recipe? The Retro Food tastes great and is easy peasy to prepare. The preparation alone is a lot of fun, melt chocolate with coconut oil and cream, layer between crunchy butter cookies and cover with more chocolate. So where are the chocolate fans? Today, I present the cold dog cake yet in a modern version – Mini Triple Chocolate Cold Dog Cake. We have even in Iran a similar version of the Cold Dog we call Cake Yakhchali, which means fridge cake. The Persian version is quite different soft, and even more tender-melting on the tongue.
Eid Mobarak! Today is Eid al Fitr and Reshteh Khoshkar is a crispy sweet specialty from Gilan in northern Iran, which is prepared for the sugar feast. The dough (Reshteh) is traditionally prepared from rice flour with water and filled with a mixture (Khoshkar) of walnuts, cinnamon, cardamom, and powdered sugar. The tricky part of these pastries is not the folding- method but the piping method. The dough is poured into a mold, then piped into a pan in a mesh pattern. The folding method is easy with this pastry, form them into packets and press the sides firmly. This dessert has warm properties and is very popular for preparation during Ramadan. Ramadan is this year from 22.03 to 21.04.23 and ends with a big celebration, namely Eid also known as Eid-al-Fitr. The homemade Reshteh Khoshkar – Gluten Free Sweet Pastries رشته خوشکار can be enjoyed not only during Ramadan, meantime they are available all year round.
Toot – Persian Marzipan Mulberry شیرینی توت is served on Nowrooz day and persian weddings. Toot is a vegan, gluten free, and no-bake treat. Toot means mulberry in Farsi. Use different food color or saffron to pep up your Toot.
Shirini-e Ghifi – Persian Cream Horns شیرینی قیفی خامه ای are a fluffy treat and a simple pastry made from puff pastry. With this recipe, a touch of nostalgia for Nowrooz blows into your kitchen. The crispy baked Cream Horns are filled with creamy rosewater-vanilla-cream and melt in your mouth. The best part is that although they look sweet, they aren’t. They are slightly sweet and yet just irresistible. Serve them along with other sweets on holidays like Nowrooz and at weddings. They are easy and quick to make, and an eye-catcher on your festive table. If you’ve never tasted Cream Horns, you should do it! View Video on Instagram
Are you getting prepared for the Persian New Year Nowruz? Part of this is spring cleaning, making sabzeh, and baking cookies. Shirini-e Zaban – Persian Puff Pastry شیرینی زبان, is besides of Cake Yazdi and Nan-e Nokhodchi, a popular and nostalgic sweet to treat guests on celebrations. In Farsi, Shirini means sweet, and Zaban tongue, as they have the shape of a tongue. Shirini Zaban is a traditional sweet from the city of Qazvin in Iran. It’s a simple recipe, all you need is ready-made butter puff pastry, butter, honey, rose water, and cardamom. The golden Shirini-e Zaban is quick to prepare, flaky and crispy and not too sweet. Once they come out of the oven, brush them with the honey-rosewater-glaze, and sprinkle them with ground pistachios, grated coconut, or sesame seeds, depending on your taste. With Nowruz just around the corner, check out my blog for plenty of Nowrooz recipes and ideas. View Video on Instagram
One of our favorite desserts is the Italian Tiramisu. For the National Day of Pistachio, I pimped the traditional dessert with a new look. Bye Bye retro style, Hello new cool look – Mini Pistachio Tiramisu Charlotte – تیرامیسو پسته . To make this look, place ladyfingers dipped in vanilla essence all around a jar and line the bottom with ladyfingers. A pistachio cream made of mascarpone is whipped creamy with white chocolate, cream, homemade pistachio butter, and caster sugar and layered with chopped pistachios and more ladyfingers. Fruity raspberries, white chocolate drops, and chopped pistachios finish off the new look. By the way, my Mini Pistachio Tiramisu Charlotte is eggless and alcohol-free. It’s not only an eye-catcher but also tastes perfect. Getting to that perfect result is quick and even easier than you think. Try this royal dessert for Norouz to treat your guests.
Bastani Sonati or the traditional Faloodeh are most popular ice cream delights in Persia. Also Yakh dar Behesht-e Anar – Persian Pomegranate Granité یخ در بهشت انار is one of the most popular ice creams, especially in autumn. We love preparing it for Shab-e Yalda (winter solstice), which is the longest night of the year. Yakh means ice, and Behesht means heaven, so freely translated it means ice in heaven. My granité is a heavenly ice cream made with pomegranate juice, fresh mint, lemon, water and sugar. It is prepared without an ice cream maker, tastes sweet and sour at the same time, our absolute favorite flavor. We served it in a glass with a straw and spoon. An unique experience, as the crystalline in the ice cream melts softly on the tongue. Yakh dar Behesht is gluten-, fat- and dairy-free, so it’s perfect for people with allergies, vegetarians and vegans. Treat yourself with this ice-cold treat!
